5th gear whine

[bacongrease]

 Well, not exactly whine,  but a weird noise when I shift to 5th.
A 2003/2004 Stone I recently purchased. 
 It was stored for 6 + yrs.
It's not exactly cherry, but is farkled out.
What is most likely the issue?

[Ncdan]

Well, not exactly whine,  but a weird noise when I shift to 5th.
A 2003/2004 Stone I recently purchased. 
 It was stored for 6 + yrs.
It's not exactly cherry, but is farkled out.
What is most likely the issue?

I’d start by changing all the fluids. In my 02 Stone I decided to go with 85/140 full synthetic in both tranny and rear end. It made the shifting much smoother and it’s quite.

[moto-uno]

  Have you considered an oil change ?   Peter

[kfz]

As you shift?   The clutch adjusted ok. Not dragging and a bit of free play when not engaged?

Kev

[Old Jock]

Can you give us some more detail

Is it a clunk?

That's quite common and pretty normal dependent on the volume of course, as the box is shifting from dogs on one shaft to dogs on another, so a lot of mechanical action is taking place

If you're not used to Guzzis (or airhead Beemers which are sorta simillar) the gearbox will seem pretty agricultural, a Ducati or Honda it's not. There will be quite a few clunks, especially at first as you're not familiar wiith it. These will lessen over time as you develop technique. Don't overly worry though as well as sounding agricultural they are built like the proverbial Brick S**t Houses and can take a lot of abuse.

As others said, start with an oil change new fluid can make a big difference to both noise and shifting action, so that's where I'd start too

[Vagrant]

first, the speedo is about 8MPH fast at 80 and if it isn't showing 80 you don't need to be in fifth because you are lugging it. that's most likely what you hear.

[Dilliw]

Well, not exactly whine,  but a weird noise when I shift to 5th.
A 2003/2004 Stone I recently purchased. 
 It was stored for 6 + yrs.
It's not exactly cherry, but is farkled out.
What is most likely the issue?

I've got an 03.  Just think of the bike as a 4 speed unless you are over 70mph and you will be fine! 

5th will make a "whirling" noise until you get to at least 3k rpm which is why Vagrant believes you are probably lugging the bike.  As he says rely on the tach more so than the speedo but, as Wayne told me when I first got my bike, "there's no reason to believe that either are accurate."  Wayne shimmed his 04 when he had the transmission out and his is a lot quieter than mine, but that's a chore to get the transmission. 5th gear is just noisy.

Another thing you can do is switch to Redline Shockproof Heavy in both the tranny and the rear drive.  It will quiet things down some.

[larrys]

I had a mysterious whine from the back of my Cal for a while. Never thought much of it. I took off the swingarm to change out a rotted u-joint boot and found a destroyed hanger bearing in the swingarm and the u-joint had been spinning in the inner race of the bearing. The inner race of the bearing had turned blue and cracked into four pieces. Never seen the like. I bought and installed a German driveshaft kit the whine was gone and it's been fine since.
Larry

[Dilliw]

I had a mysterious whine from the back of my Cal for a while. Never thought much of it. I took off the swingarm to change out a rotted u-joint boot and found a destroyed hanger bearing in the swingarm and the u-joint had been spinning in the inner race of the bearing. The inner race of the bearing had turned blue and cracked into four pieces. Never seen the like. I bought and installed a German driveshaft kit the whine was gone and it's been fine since.
Larry

But that was in any gear, right?

[Wayne Orwig]

Well, not exactly whine,  but a weird noise when I shift to 5th.
A 2003/2004 Stone I recently purchased. 
 It was stored for 6 + yrs.
It's not exactly cherry, but is farkled out.
What is most likely the issue?

I towed a large camper with my 2004 EV. Fifth gear started to whine at an early age. I replace it and the crappy double row bearings. A few years ago it started again. I put in Redline heavy duty shockproof lube, and that quieted it down a good bit. I am in there now, replacing fifth gear again since I had to go in for other reasons. It has about 130,000 miles on it, and I don't recall when I replaced the first set (at about 30,000 miles I believe.) I don't think they harden those fifth gears in those years real well.



 

[larrys]

But that was in any gear, right?

Yeah, probably. I only noticed it in top gear, though.
Larry

[Wayne Orwig]

Ok, I looked in my notes. This is for a 2004 EV. The fifth gear was changed at about 73,000 miles due to loud whining.
I am changing the fifth gear set again, at about 130,000 miles.
A LOT of those miles are at high highway speeds, towing a LARGE camper.
And for those going down that path, using a popular synthetic oil. I will be switching to Redline Shockproof for grins.

I am trying out my new camera. Pretty good zoom. Makes the gear look pretty nasty.

[acogoff]

     It may be worth noting that they will go for many thousands of miles with a whine in 5th. I would check the magnet on the transmission filler quit often until  you figure out what the normal amount of fuzz is. Mine has been whining the same for years and I check the magnet every 500 to 1000 miles. Usually a tiny bit of fuzz. As long as it does not change, drive.  That said I have new 5th gears in my pile-o-spares. Then, I will never need them, a rule of thumb for me anyway.

[coast range rider]

I believe storing a bike for 6 years could affect surface finish on a gear and cause a whine. I had a 12 year old Suzuki. After storing for 3 years it suddenly got a gear whine in 5th. Not a known issue for that year/model. I've been living with that gear whine for many thousands of miles now. Luckily I spend more time in 6th gear.

[bacongrease]

BTW....it is papered as a 2004.  I go to the Piaggo site and can get the manual for 2004 and newer.
 Oooops, it is older. ? ? 
  I am sure this happens a lot.     

[Wayne Orwig]

BTW....it is papered as a 2004.  I go to the Piaggo site and can get the manual for 2004 and newer.
 Oooops, it is older. ? ? 
  I am sure this happens a lot.     

?

Do you mean it does not match the 2004 manual, or the vin is different?

[Nick]

Changed 5th gear on my '03 at 56K miles

[bacongrease]

?

Do you mean it does not match the 2004 manual, or the vin is different?

[/quote
apparently, the vin is older than 2004  so I couldn't download the manual from that site  my title sez 2004.

[Dilliw]

?

Do you mean it does not match the 2004 manual, or the vin is different?

[/quote
apparently, the vin is older than 2004  so I couldn't download the manual from that site  my title sez 2004.

Try these.  They are probably listed for my 2003 but should work for you:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GwwffH9OZ5GFKjvOItStcFx8eggPQ8Ru?usp=sharing

[wolfeguitars]

My '02 Cali EV1100 w/ sidecar whines loudly if I run in 5th below 70mph. If well above 70, which is rare for that rig, the whine is way less.....or.....the wind noise drowns it out! I rarely use 5th. The added weight of the sidecar, it's attaching hardware + 80 lbs. of ballast on board, likely increases the annoying whine noise, but using 4th gear solves the problem for me.

[Wayne Orwig]

My '02 Cali EV1100 w/ sidecar whines loudly if I run in 5th below 70mph. If well above 70, which is rare for that rig, the whine is way less.....or.....the wind noise drowns it out! I rarely use 5th. The added weight of the sidecar, it's attaching hardware + 80 lbs. of ballast on board, likely increases the annoying whine noise, but using 4th gear solves the problem for me.

Do you still have the stock 8/33 rear gears?

I went with 7/33 gears for a while. That just meant I was wearing out fifth gear more on the highway. I did not like that, so I switched to an odd 8/35 gear set. That sort of puts me in the middle of the 7/33 and 8/33 gearing.

[wavedog]

  My old 01 Jackal, Too-Loose-le Goose (rip), had a whine in 5th gear but only when I used it. I ran it like a 4speed. The only time I shifted into 5th was if I was going to be cruising above 80mph for a long time which was very seldom. I did change out the tranny at 35,000 miles with an 03 transmission with 9,000 miles. No whine. Changed the broken clutch and broken u joint at the same time.

[wolfeguitars]

Do you still have the stock 8/33 rear gears?

I actually don't know. I often wish I had a lower ratio with the added weight of the sidecar BUT I've become used to it & wouldn't want to change at this time.